Re-branding. A potential risk to take in the business world, but something that can benefit your business in a huge way. It could also come at a huge risk too though, if your product is tried and tested, surely your brand is working? What if, with a new look to your brand, you could then increase sales of your product? You’d surely change what you needed. However it’s not always that simple.
A re-brand can be as simple as changing the logo or colours you use. Or changing the way you go about marketing the product. A small piece of advice, don’t change to much though. For example, Chelsea FC wouldn’t ever change their blue shirt, but they may change their kit crest, or the way they go about marketing their latest piece of merchandise.
A fantastic example of a minor change to a business re-brand is one that Lego undertook in the early 2000s. Lego saw their profits drop by $300 million. For a company who once led the toy industry, this was simply unacceptable. Lego then carried out some key market research among children. The main piece of information they received was that children wanted to actually build the Lego sets, not have pre-moulded bricks that took the fun out of building. Lego have since skyrocketed back to the top of the toy-chain and in 2015 were classed as the best selling toy company in the world. Interestingly though, their best selling sets still comprised of mixed pre-moulded pieces and generic bricks. The Colosseum, Millennium Falcon and Hogwarts are currently the best selling Lego sets on the market. Although, in a sub-category of the company, all three sets are part of their own collection. Another aspect of the re-brand Lego undertook.
Dominos Pizza were in major need of a re-brand back in the late 2000s. They realised that they were falling behind in the take-away market and needed a new image. They believed they had an inferior product when actually the product wasn't the problem. The USP of being a take-away was. Dominos then began to pioneer the idea of the take-away by using technology to allow you to easily order it. They began developing an app as well as adding order shortcuts to their website, all things that made ordering a takeaway on a Saturday night easier. This was a huge re-brand which has seen Dominos dominate the takeaway pizza market. So much so, that every advert Dominos produce on television includes the image of a pizza for a few seconds at the most. The majority of the advert is of the process of the pizza being delivered or ordered. Dominos realised that their USP wasn’t pizza - but the delivery they provided.
However, before considering a re-brand, it’s important to identify what your business is doing wrong. You may only need minor things changing in the way you distribute your advertising, or just the advertising itself. It isn't always the product or the delivery of the product that needs changing. Subtle changes are always needed, but a re-brand could totally change your business profits, and the perception of the brand.